Off we went to the Lake City!

This was a new method of greeting that our team learned after coming back from a fun filled 4 days trip to Kaski District in Western Nepal.

Pokhara is a beautiful city in Kaski of West Nepal, also known as the “Lake City” since the vicinity boasts of 8 or so lakes including the picturesque Lake Phewa and Begnas Lake.

In addition to being a popular tourist destination, the surrounding villages of Pokhara are also abuzz with rural entrepreneurship. We went on a 4 day visit to some organizations from which we could learn and get new ideas for our agriculture program. In particular, we were hoping to learn from successful local agri-business leaders and to get their input on how to link the farmers we support with robust markets for their products. It was also a chance for team building and bonding.

Our team of 16 including Kathmandu and field staffs had a busy time learning, seeing, and interacting with notable individuals and groups. Our team went to the village of Bhadaure Tamagi on the first day experiencing how a rural homestay is run. We also met with the farmer’s group there, and also learned about how these groups came together to form a Cooperative for giving an organizational shape to their collective effort.

Our team gets a warm welcome from the Women’s Group in Bhadaure Tamagi

We also met with local entrepreneurs from the Bazaar who are promoting organic products in Pokhara. The Bazaar team works with the community of Bhadaure Tamagi in promoting organic agribusiness, and have been instrumental in starting a large organic produce market in the city.

Vegetable plot of farmers in Bhadaure Tamagi

The Bazaar’s organic fresh vegetable outlet in Pokhara

Visiting the organic farm of Suryanath Adhikari who is at the forefront of organic and local seed protection movement in Nepal was a very eye opening experience for all of us. Suryanath is one of the first organic farmers in the country, and one of the very first to commercially produce coffee.

Suryanath Adhikari briefs us about permaculture, his farm and local seed preservation

Overall, our team came away inspired and with a number of tangible new ideas to improve our work in the field. This includes a renewed focus on helping farmers work together to collectively plant and harvest crops – thus gaining access to more distant markets. We are also going to renew our focus on improving compost and manure management as a foundation of our approach, and will focus upon open-pollinated seed varieties that will give farmers the option of saving seeds and even earning extra income through seed cultivation and sales. Going very official, these are the main things that our team says they have learned and will be working on to develop in our own field areas:

coordination of our existing farmer’s group with related Government agencies

bring all the existing farmer’s group into one common umbrella network for sharing, and marketing

study the local and regional market to inform farmers about plants that are more profitable

focus more on improving farm yard manure, and organic fertilizer situation in our field area

promote local food, and preserve local seeds

Our team with another farmer’s group in Dhikur Pokhari

Then, of course, everyone took a few days off and enjoyed ourselves as tourists.

This is our team showing “how to block the famous site that you came to visit”!Some serious photography going on hereAnd a bit of boating in “Lake City”

Energetic as our teams are, they even made time to visit the revered “Manakamana” temple en route to Kathmandu which is believed to grant any wish that you make.

What did the dZi ladies wish for?

We will be wishing to implement some of the things that we learned from this wonderful trip, and hold onto the spirit that we developed after seeing so many successful agriculture enterprises. We believe that we are already onto the right track, all we need is a little more perseverance. Here is a video that explains partly what we are doing in the remote communities of East Nepal

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Well the place is looking quite interesting to me, I have never been to any of the place ever. I came back from my 2 day tours from new york, and i will try to make my next tour to any this sort of place for my next trip. Surly that will be an different experience for me.